Saturday, 11 April 2009

Album Review: The Prodigy - "Invaders Must Die"

Well, it had to happen. After a lengthy hiatus of 5 years since their last album "always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" (or a very lengthy hiatus of 12 years if you're only counting the albums with Keith and Maxim present), The Prodigy are back with a vengeance. Although you might be put off by the robotic voice at the beginning having to remind you that this IS in fact The Prodigy that you're listening to, trust me, although it's a bit different to what you're used to, your fears will go unfounded.

This album is a curious record that sees the lads experiment with combining different sounds, as if tracks like "Take Me To The Hospital" were made by filtering the hardcore rave work of their debut "Experience" through the big beat sound of their 1997 album "Fat Of The Land". Upcoming single "Warrior's Dance" starts by abusing their fan's weak-spot for a pitched up female vocal sample, before plunging into a barrage of breakbeats and gut-crunching bass. "Colours" is something to play for the scenesters, with indie rock guitars and nu-rave synth leads, "Thunder" is an oddball combination of reggae vocals and classic rock guitars that, bizarrely, works very well, and closer "Stand Up" even dabbles with funk and acid to form a huge big beat track that Fatboy Slim will wish he had made.

We all know that the reason their last album was a bit of a flop was because the fans saw it less as a Prodigy album and more as a solo record by Liam Howlett, as he was the only member of the Prodigy present on the album. So it's certainly a relief to hear those explosive punky vocals of Keith Flint and Maxim Reality back again, really taking tracks like "Run With The Wolves" and "World's On Fire" to their limit and making sure that no-one is ever going to sit down while this album's playing. Another pitfall of the last album was it's comlplete overflow of guest spots, with everyone from Oasis to Juliette Lewis making appearances. Liam, though, keen to learn from his mistakes, has kept guest appearances on this album to a minimum, with only three non-members making appearances. (Amanda Ghost's backing vocals on "Colours", Dave Grohl's drumming on "Run With The Wolves" and James Rushent of Does It Offend You Yeah's production on "Invaders Must Die" and "Omen")

All in all, "Invaders Must Die" is very different to what Prodigy fans will be used to hearing from them, but nontheless it is a very enjoyable record.

EXTRA NOTES:- The iTunes edition comes with a remix of "Invaders Must Die" by Chase & Status, the radio edit of "Omen" and a track by track talk through of the album from the band.

- The deluxe box set also comes with a bonus disc called the "Lost Beats EP" with four extra tracks: "Black Smoke", "Wild West", "Fighter Beat" and "The Big Gundown".